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General Practice Facts

Who is your GP? General Practitioners/family doctors are specialists in their own right. A GP is trained to treat the whole person and to care for people of all ages, all walks of life, and with all types of medical issues and concerns.

20 Dec 2017

Who is your GP?

General Practitioners - Australia's family doctors - are specialists in their own right. A GP is trained to treat the whole person and to care for people of all ages, all walks of life, and with all types of medical issues and concerns.

GPs are concerned about preventative health and are the best placed to advise about how to stay healthy and well. GPs have 10-15 years of formal education and training before they can practise independently as a GP. A strong GP-led primary health care system keeps people well and saves lives.

Facts about General Practice in Australia

Workforce

In the 2015-16 year#:

there were 35,934 GPs, 25,825 were full service equivalent (FSE).

145.4 million NRA services were provided by GPs.

45.4% of GPs were female.

27,379 were vocationally registered GPs

4,912 were non vocationally registered GPs.

there were 3,643 GP Registrars.

14% of GPs were from 65+ Age groups.

40.6% of GPs trained overseas.

In 2015-16*:

Major Cities

101.8 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in NSW

98.6 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in VIC

107.3 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in QLD

84.5 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in WA

103.5 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in SA

73.9 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in ACT

99.4 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in Australia

Outer regional, remote and very remote areas

90.7 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in QLD

70.2 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in WA

76.4 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in SA

74.8 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in TAS

48.7 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in NT

97.4 FSE GPs per 100,000 people in Australia

GP training in 2015

4,936 GP training positions/trainees (out of a total of 20,069 training positions)